“friendships multiply joys and divide griefs” HG Bohn

My Alaskan friend is sleeping off her jet lag this morning so I have a few blessed minutes to tip tap on the keyboard now that the children have been fed their pancakes, cleaned up, and gotten on the bus.  It’s a misty morning.  Caleb woke up and said he had dreamed that it had snowed, and without missing a beat he cried, “WHY WON’T IT SNOW!!!!!”  He doesn’t want a green Christmas but I said it’s better than a blue one.

Hannah and I went for a walk yesterday and just as we were stepping off the lawn onto the road an ambulance came slowly down to park at the end of the trail by our woods.  A uniformed man got out and started striding up the trail purposefully.  We *needed* to know what was happening so I went over to the window to ask the man in the passenger seat what was going on, imagining that someone was in trouble in the woods.  He laughed, “He needed to go to the bathroom.”

You never know what God is going to bring across your path just when you needed a nice laugh.  We left the men in peace and continued on our walk quite amused.

There is a delightful little thrift shop in town so we headed there to do a little rummaging.  Hannah loves to sew and she enjoyed going through all the patterns which cost 25 cents a piece. She found four to take home and use.  We looked through the household goods and for the very first time EVER in this shop, I FOUND FIESTAWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Two ring handled periwinkle blue mugs!  Another gift from God to put smiles on our faces.  Two mugs!  One for me and one for Hannah to take home with her.

All these things for five dollars.  (books, something for Dave, an ornament, a piece of pretty fabric, a hand crocheted jingle bell wall hanging, a lidded glass jar with lily of the valley on it.)

AND THE TWO FIESTA MUGS.

So then we put the box in my car and walked up the sidewalk to the coffee shop for a nice lunch. We had bean sandwiches and quiche with water to drink.

After lunch we walked up to our favorite shop.  When Hannah came almost three years ago on her first visit, the two of us visited this particular shop together for the first time.  It was in my own town but I had not been inside yet.  It was delightful, full of charming items and decorated very nicely.  It has an “Anthropologie” feel to it, a feast for the eyes and nose because there are fragrant candles in the shop, too.

We asked the shop keeper to take our photo in front of her beautiful Christmas tree.

We headed back home, stopping for small caramel lattes at the Dunkin Donuts drive through.

We watched a movie and then it was time to go get David from newspaper club.

The afternoon flew by as we sang at the piano, played with the kids and worked on a Nativity puzzle while listening to music.  We made chili for dinner.

We brought a table in to the dining room and set up a Nativity set with Seth and Sarah’s help.

The kids aren’t allowed to play with it so Sarah sits in front with her own little dolls, which is why Cinderella has made an appearance.

After some TV and a little reading, the first full day of Hannah’s visit was over.

*****

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!

“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” third stanza,  by Edmund Sears

I hope my friends who happen by this blog today have a  blessed and peaceful day.  You are loved.